I have been reading post after post after post talking about the Kawasaki Prairie and how fast it seems to be. Most every mag I read put it as the class winner!!! Before I go any further, I want to say this, judging from the bikes that I own, one would think this is a Brand Biased opinion! Actually I have owned a Polaris Sportsman 500, a Honda trx300 4x4, and an old Suzuki quadzilla. Each one was a blast to ride and I would buy them all over againll!!! However, being a fan of Kawasaki as well, I must say that those mag shootouts that places the Prairie as #1 is DEFINATELY BIASED!!!!!! Before I go any further, I also want to add that at every motocross race I attend, there are so many utility quads there its incredible, most are used as "pit bikes". I have ridden every make of nearly ever brand of quads!! They are all very wonderful machines. At the same time I do most of my riding at the Upper Tellico ORV area in North Carolina, though I have never been to the Paiute(sorry if mispelled)trail in Cali, there are many many people who venture Tellico year after year during the Jeep Jamborees in their own Custom made, all-wheel steering, 44 inch-72inch water filled tired hybrids that would blow your mind. They all say that Tellico makes the Paiute look easy, Hatfeild McCoy Trails dont even compare! Remember everyone that was their opinion not mine. On any given weekend there are 100's of quads, out on the trials as well as veryyyy many hybrid machines. There are at least 13 trails that you can ride, some dont allow quads due to its difficulty: Bottom Trail #2-Rock Garden, Trail #6 Ledge, Trail #11 Helicopter Pad and Guardrail and of course #12's Slick Rock! I have ridden with ever kind of quad except sport machines, those on those trails would be a waste of time! To my topic, I have ridden with countless numbers of Kawasaki Prairies on those trails!!! By far Tellico is the most extreme riding I have ever done! My Grizzly as well as the Polaris Machines and most all other IRS machines do very very very well there, though those trails, I dont care what kind of machine you own, you will nottttttt and I repeat WILL NOT make it through those trails without winching! The Prairie is right at home on the open rodes, but when it comes to Tellico, the "King Of Utilities" definately does not live up to that name!!! My Grizzly, Any Sportsman Machine, The Artic Cat are farrrrrrr superior to the Prairie. IMO the only good thing about the Prairie is the Motor. Again, for the area I ride and the purpose of my quad, the Prairie just doesnt compare!!!! I would be more than glad to escort any Prairie owner to do a shootout in the real world with me at Tellico where speed is definately not a factor!! I want a magazine to do a real time shootout with real people like you and me and not their own riders who are paid to say which is the FASTEST!!!! So meet me at Tellico ORV are in Murphy NC. I will very much show you the capabilities of a non-IRS, non-locking front differentialed machine versus one that does!!!!! The Prairie is definately the king of flat out drag racing of Utility machines quads, but it is definately NOT the king of go ANYWHERE utility machines, so how can it be #1 if it can't outdo the other machines in ALL categories, instead why dont they say it does best in this category and the other machines do better at that category!!!!! My invitation to dethrone the King is valid at anytime from this point on!!!!

 

Both are great bikes, just depends on what type of riding you mainly do.

I thought the Prairie had a locking front differential?

 

It does[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

u can't help that the prairie is so great [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

POOR GUYAll he has done today is bash the prairie ,and how good his IRS is in his "real world"Now how many of you guys ride that kind of terrain every day.I dont , do you ?So get off it man why bash it when you should have bought it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Trailride, you must have mistook my post. If you read and comprehend everything that I said, it would have been much easier!! I was saying that all the magazine shootouts places the Prairie up #1 because of how "FAST" and not "WHERE IT CAN GO" capabilities, when isnt utility machines all about where it can go? Also, you asked why bash it when I should have bought it!!! I have a question for you! Why buy it if it can't do what my machine can do????? Also, I have ridden with ALOT of prairies and I know first hand their capabilities on hills, mud, and rocks! Mud they are excellent machines, but others far surpass it(Sportsman, Grizz, AC650)due to ground clearance!!! Please don't mistake me for being brand biased or bash the Prairie, I just bash the people who ride them who think they ride the flagship of the Quad world simply because its FAST!!!! After all, isnt the worlds greatest mass-produced 4x4 vehicle in the world the HUMVEE?????? Isnt it INDEPENDENT ALL THE WAY AROUND??????? I wonder why the Army chose that to replace their straight axled vehicles??? HMMMMMMM I will definately say my Grizz isnt the best quad in all situations!!! At the same time how can anyone say that the Prairie is better than the other big bore utility machines simply because its faster? Lets add up some factors....

Mud: Sportsman, Grizz, AC650 All would be far superior to the Prairie

Rock Crawling: Again the 3 mentioned above would be far superior

Handling: I'd say that would be preference of rider

Drag Racing: Prairie wins, but definately not blow away the others

Trail Riding: All are capable, no real winner in this category

Pulling: In stock condition Sportsman usually wins this

Reliability: People have their own opinions, mine being Yamaha and Kawi a toss up as to which is best

Where in those situations do you see the Prairie dominating the competition besides Drag Racing? I apologize to sound like I am bashing, I guess it all really does come down to what makes you happy instead of the facts!!! The Prairie is a great machine, I would even own one if it could handle the areas that I ride!!! I dont ride to look at scenary, I ride for challenges to find the roughest, steepest, scariest places. Tellico is all of that and then some!! So for my riding situation, not only the prairie, but no other non-IRS machine suits my purpose. Its only my opinion that no one should ever say which is #1 when other machines far surpass it in so many other categories, as stated above I said my machine wasnt the best!!! But it does better in my situations!!!

 

My dad bought his prairie over the other brands because of the power and because it doesn,t have irs. He was looking for something he could go hunting with but still be sporty and have fun in the dunes and other trails. He rode many different models before deciding on the prairie. A quad with irs is harder to be sporty with because if you try and slide it the suspension won't let it. We had a sled pull uphill at our local poker run and my dads prairie killed the grizzly. His quad was the only one to pull the sled all the way up the hill with two more bags for weight than the grizzly. The grizzly is a good quad but I'd rather have a prairie.

 

If your dads quad is the 700 V-Twin I would hope it would outpull the Grizzly!! Again, I ride extreme places not pull extreme loads, if that was the case I'd go with the Sportsman! The Prairie is right at home in the dunes, I wish we had some here!! Seems like that would be some fun riding on my YFZ and my bikes!!! But for the terrain I ride in, IRS is best!!!!